The Flying Fortress

A Flying Fortress crashed off Burton
Beach near West Bexington during the war. Most of the wreckage has eroded away
but there are still some recognisable features. In fact much of the plane has
been colonised by sea creatures and these still pictures and short movies show
the site in 2001. Some times the wreck is covered with silt and at other times
fairly exposed. The US had B29 Superfortresses  the RAF version was
a B50 Washington which is the likely plane here.

We are grateful to Richard
Edmonds for these shots.

This simple plan (which is not to scale) shows the current layout of the aircraft
in relation to the beach.

The
proper name for the 'crab apple' anemone is Plumore Anemone. This close up with
a small crab shows clearly that some are open and others are closed up. The wreck
provides a hard surface in the strong current that then helps to deliver food
every day.